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04 November, 2002

LETTER: Green - or just greenish

Brian Walters (Opinion 1/11) has hit the nail on the head regarding Environment Minister Sherryl Garbutt's "moratorium" on logging the Goolengook Forest.

While the moratorium is a positive move, Garbutt has indicated the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council will be asked to advise whether other already protected forest can be swapped for Goolengook and logged, if Goolengook is saved. This perpetuates the myth that the government is bound to find replacement forest if forest previously identified as available for logging is subsequently protected under a Regional Forest Agreement - something that is simply not true.

If the Bracks Government is serious about saving Goolengook, and establishing its green credentials, it should examine whether logging of old-growth and high-conservation forest can be phased out. Otherwise it is difficult to see how minister Garbutt's announcement amounts to anything but greenwash.